Kim Possible: The Price of Freedom
by Desslock3
Summary: A new student comes to Middleton High and Kim and Ron are asked by Mr. Barkin to befriend him, trouble is the guy has issues and acts like a real jerk. And how come Dr. Director is so intrested in the new kid?
1. Chapter 1 Semper Fidelis

AN: I found that I wrote my self in to a corner in my story KP: You Can't Go Home Again, so while I try to extract myself from that I figured my adoring fans might like to take a look at this other fic that I had been working off and on for a while now. Please read and review. Enjoy. And a big thanks goes out to A. Markov for the beta read.

Also, this story is a bit AU, but still about 90 canon. We know from the show that Barkin was a LT in Nam, so based on what he says about the village of My Lai; I assumed his tour of duty ran from 1971-1972, with Barkin being around 24 years of age then. Thus when KP starts in 2002 we can assume that he is about 54 years old.

**KIM POSSIBLE: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM**

**CHAPTER ONE: SEMPER FIDELIS**

I.

Steve Barkin was dirty, sweaty, tired, and happy. His rugby team, the Middleton Hatchets, had just trounced the visiting team from Upperton, again. Not only was this was the third time in as many months that the Hatchets had beaten the Upperton Cavilers, but it was the eighth straight win for the Hatchets. With a grin on his face and swagger in his step, Barkin walked towards the side line to retrieve his sports bag and change of clothes so that he could enjoy a well deserved "victory" shower. As he began to reach for his bag he heard the distinctive sound of his cell phone ringing.

"From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli..." Barkin sang along to the tune while digging through his bag to retrieve the phone before answering it.

"This is Steven Barkin."  
"Steve, it's Betty. I need to talk to you about an important issue. An Agent Du will pick you up and bring you to me." The sudden sound of a dial tone told Barkin that he had just been hung up on and that the conversation was over. Somewhat taken aback by the abruptness of the call, Barkin wonder why his friend, Dr. Betty Alexandra Director, and head of the international anti-terrorism organization known as Global Justice, had just called him out of the blue. He only had a few seconds to ponder this question before his thoughts were interrupted by someone calling his name.

"Mr. Barkin, I'm Agent Du. I'm to take you to meet Dr. Director."

"Ahh, yeah I know. Let me go and shower and I'll join you in a few moments."

Agent Du shook his head no. "Sorry Mr. Barkin, but my orders are to bring you to her ASAP. If you'll just follow me I have a car waiting for us."

"Will do."

"Yes?" Will asked.

"What?" Barkin asked.

"You said my name."

"Ahh, yeah, never mind." Barkin said.

During the trip to meet Dr. Director, Agent Du proved to be insufferably boring. Not only wouldn't he answer any of Mr. Barkin's questions, but he drove at exactly the posted speed limit the whole way and religiously and invariably followed every traffic rule to the letter. He wouldn't even allow the radio to be turned on during the drive, claming that it may be distracting. It was enough to drive even ole "by the book Barkin", a name he picked up from his platoon leader days, crazy. Barkin smiled slightly at the though of his old nickname, even though his troops only called him that behind his back, they always took offense when any one out side of the platoon had called him that.

Thirty minutes later the torturously tame trip came to an end when a still some what baffled Steve Barkin finally found himself standing in the headquarters of Global Justice and about to meet its boss. Out of sheer habit, and one that he really hadn't tried to break through the years, Barkin knocked on the door twice and waited for acknowledgement before entering the room. He shut the door with his left hand while maintaining eye contact with the sole person in the room, and with military precision born of long habit and repetition, he closed the door and approached the desk, stopping exactly three feet from it.

"Steve. How's my favorite ninety day wonder doing, still doing things by the book I see." Dr. Director asked as she looked up from her desk. "It also looks like you're still playing rugby."

"As far as I know of I'm the only ninety day wonder that you ever knew, never mind liked, and the rugby keeps me in shape." Barkin replied.

"Well there weren't too many people who would admit to being in the military while attending Kent State. As for the rugby, yes I would imagine that it does, and you are still looking pretty good for that matter. Besides, I like your rugby uniform, it shows off your legs." Dr. Director said as she indicated for Barkin to take a seat.

"Don't you think your husband would be a little jealous if he heard you say that?" Steve asked with the smallest of grins. "But somehow I don't think you used your agencies men and material just to drag me here so you could flirt, so what is it?"

Smiling a little herself, Betty knew that Steve was right, and that what she had to tell him was important. Still she wanted to catch up with her old friend from college. It had been years, the summer of 1993 to be exact, since the two of them had sat down face to face and talked. She had missed talking with Steven Barkin, he was intelligent and knowledgeable, and wasn't one to sugar coat things. That was one of the things the future head of Global Justice had noticed when she first met him as a nineteen year old junior at Kent state. The other thing she had also learned of was his protective nature.

"Betty, you still with me?" Steven asked after the woman had been quite for several moments.

Snapped out of her day dream by the question, Betty simply answered with the first thing that came to her mind. "Sorry Steve, I was thinking about how we meet, and of the summer of 88."

"Ahh, I see." Steven answered solemnly.

"Did I ever thank you for what you did for me that year?"

"Thanked me? For what?" Steven asked confused.

"For helping me the way you did."

"I was there for a friend, a buddy. I wouldn't have done anything less. You know that Betty."

"That's not what I meant." Betty said with a sigh as she gathered her thoughts before she stood up. "Steve would you say I'm attractive?"

"Yes I would. You've always had a great body."

"Would you say I'm pretty?"

"Betty, I don't understand where you're going with this." Steven answered with both confusion and honesty. He had only her heard voice questions of self doubt once before and was beginning to fear he would hear it again.

"Look at my face and tell me what you see." Betty directed.

"I see…" Steven then stopped in mid sentence as he finally realized just what Betty was getting at. She was talking about the last time he had heard her voice her self doubts, and what had caused them. "This is about your eye isn't it?"

"No, it's not just about my eye. Take a good look at my face."

Steven stood up and leaned closer to take a good close look at Betty's face. As he leaned in to get a closer look, Steven realized the last time his face had been this close to Betty's face had been just over ten years ago, back in the summer of 93. The other thing he realized is that despite the years, the thin white traces of several scars could still be seen on her face.

"Steve, back then, after the accident, I was a mess. You saw how injured my face was while I was in the hospital."

Steven could only nod his head as he remembered how badly injured his friend had been, and not just her face but from head to toe. However, his thoughts were interrupted when Betty continued speaking.

"I've always been a strong, confident woman. You've known that longer than my husband, ever since college when you tried to protect me from that mugger." Then after several seconds Betty continued in a softer voice. "Well during that summer, I lost a lot of my confidence. I was really just a shell of what I had been. But then you came to visit me and helped me to recover."

"Betty, you know I would have done the same for any of my friends." Steven started to say before being cut off.

"After I got out of the hospital I still had this to remind me of my failure." Betty said as she pointed to her eye patch. "Lets face it, society isn't all that kind to women with a large facial disfiguration. So when you took me out for dinner after they discharged me from the hospital; that meant a lot to me."

"Umm, yes I figured you could use some real food after all that time in the hospital."

"It wasn't just the dinner, or the date Steve, it was the whole night. You made me feel like a woman again, something that a man would be attracted to. Yes I know it sounds shallow coming from me, but it's true. That's why I trust you and your judgment, and why I decided to call you to help me with another problem."

Steven Barkin was no shrink, but he had learned a few things over the years, both from being in the military and being a teacher, about helping people deal with their problems. Rule number one was to be quiet and to listen to what the person had to say. This was on time that "by the book Barkin" should have abandoned that rule. Instead he simply sat back in his seat and waited for Betty Director to tell him what her problem was.

"This all started about three months ago…." Betty began.

II.

Fifteen minutes later Betty had finished her tale.

"Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me!" Steven said rather loudly and in disbelief.

"No I'm not." Betty responded evenly from across her desk.

"You can't tell me any more than this and you want me to admit this kid in to my school? Forget it, its not going to happen. You may be queen of your little kingdom here, but I'm the king of mine."

"I'm sorry Steve, but you just don't have the proper clearance for that information."

"That's a bunch of bull and you know it." Barkin responded harshly, "I'm pretty certain that neither Miss Possible nor Mr. Stoppable have any sort of "official" security clearance, but some how I doubt that stops you from sharing information with them. Now if you want my cooperation then you need to be a little more forth coming with the information."

Sighing to herself, Betty knew that he had a point. She was asking a lot of him to do this favor for her, especially when it had the possibility of blowing up in his face.

"Alright Steve, you do have a point there. We both know that this is the right thing to do, but if you do this for me, I would consider it a personal favor. Think of it as helping out an injured friend again." Seeing that her change in tact had somewhat disarmed the strong willed principal, Betty continued. "Even I don't know all the facts, but here is what I do know about this young man."

Two hours later, after much discussion and haggling of details, Principal Steven Barkin wearily sat back in his chair.

"Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me." Barkin said again, only this time in shock rather than disbelief as his friend offered him a cup of coffee.

"Here you go Steve, one pack of sugar and just a splash of cream."

"I'm impressed that you remembered Betty, it's been what, at least eight years since you made a cup of coffee for me."

"Nine, but why quibble. It was 1993, the last time that we had dinner together. Did you know that when I told you about my engagement that night that you were the first person I told?"

"No I didn't." Steven answered while reaching for his cup. But he stopped in mid-movement as he heard the sound of a cork being removed from a bottle.

"Care for a snort?" Betty asked as she held up a small bottle half full of a light brown liquid.

"Betty, I'm surprised in you. Never would have thought you'd be one to keep whisky in the office." Barkin teased.

"I assure you, it's for medicinal purposes only." Betty said as she poured some in to each cup.

"But after what you've told me, yeah, I could us it."

After taking a sip of the now fortified coffee, Barkin asked the question that had been on his mind. He didn't know if his conscious was looking for reassurance or a way out.

"Before I fully commit, I want to know if you're sure about this Betty."

"All things considered, about as sure as I can be, and that's not much. We've never had to deal with something like this before." Betty confided

"All right then, thanks for being honest. Have the young man report to my office tomorrow morning after first period. I'll have Kim and Ron show him around. I'll also arrange the schedule so that he will have at least one of them in each of his classes through out the day."

Nodding her head in agreement Betty Director voiced her next concern. "Are you sure that there won't be a problem with him receiving his medication on time? It's very important that he retains that schedule. As it is now we are going to be wrecking his routine, it's important that he maintains at least that little bit of structure, in addition to the medicinal benefits. Steve, I don't need to tell you how important it is that we get this one right. I for one couldn't live with myself knowing that we messed up his life, again."

"I agree. I would prefer that he keep the medication on him, but school and state policy tie my hands on this one. But I'll be sure to let Kim and Ron know."

Standing up to leave, Barkin considered whether or not to listen to the last nagging thought that had been in the back of his mind. Glancing at Dr. Director's desk, his eyes fell on the picture of a young man. Even though his face had a scowl on it and gave him a tough kid look about him in the photo, Barkin knew that in the end he was still just a kid. Finally Steven Barkin made is decision.

"Betty, you said that you would consider this a personal favor if I did this. Well I'm going to go ahead and ask for payment now."

Betty raised her eye brow, not at the fact that Steven was seeking repayment of his debt, but at how quickly he was seeking it.

"Find out how this could have happened, who did it and why, and then shut them down. Air it to the public if you have to, but make sure this never happens again. At least Kim and Ron had a choice about this, but that poor kid never did."

Betty noted the way that Steve had used Kim and Ron's first name instead of calling them by their last name like he usually did with people. Then, looking him square in the eye, Betty could see the sadness in his eyes, the weariness of it all. She knew that look, that feeling. The feeling of being the old hand and having to watch as some young person had their innocence, their life irreparable changed long before it was their time. She had seen agents who on their first mission in the field had been killed, or worse, severely crippled. Or hardened veteran agents who had thought they seen it all to be forced to seek therapy after witnessing an especially depraved act by one human against another. She knew that look because from time to time it would stare back at her from the mirror.

"I'll do that Steve, you have my word on it." Dr. Director said as she stood and shook his hand before showing him the way out. "Oh and Steve, remember, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance".


	2. Chapter 2 The FNG

Well boys and girls here we are with yet another fun and exciting chapter in my newest KP fic. Hmmm, maybe I should go back and finish my other one while I'm at it. In the mean time I hope you enjoy it. Oh and a big thanks to King in Yellow for the beta read.

**KIM POSSIBLE: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM**

**CHAPTER TWO: THE FNG**

I.

Inside a modest room, sitting on a small night stand, the luminous figures on a small clock cast a slight glow on the lone figure in the room. The figure, a young teen male, was busy getting dressed for the day. As he finished tying his shoes a knocking on the door came to his attention. Soon a knocking on the door drew the young man's attention.

"Greg, may I come in?" Came an older and more masculine voice from behind the door.

The young man, Greg, recognized the voice as that of one of his guardians, Bob. "Yes."

"Are you ready for your first day of school?" Bob asked. Despite being over forty years of age a couple of things made it hard to pin Bob as being of middle age. One was the fact that Bob enjoyed working out and keeping himself in great shape. The other was the lack of any grey hair, although the lack of any hair at all on his head made that a debatable point.

"Yes I'm almost ready," Greg said with out much enthusiasm as he pulled a shirt over his head.

Bob watched as the fabric slid over the numerous scars on Greg's back. Some of them were small and faded, indicating that they were old, but others were larger, deeper, and in the case of the two round scars, much newer looking. He felt sorry for the kid and what he must have gone through to receive them. Greg had once told Bob that most of them were from punishment he had received, others were from training accidents. What ever the reason, Bob felt that Greg had enough scars for a whole football team, and that was something no one his age should have."Good. Meet me downstairs in two minutes and we'll go," Bob said as he exited the room.

After Bob left, Greg thought about what had just happened and how different his life was now. This was the first time he had ever had a room of his own, usually he was in an open bay barracks with thirty other people. Only Todd, their leader, had his own room, and it was even smaller than the one Greg had now. But even more importantly than that was how Greg now found himself being treated. His guardians were responsible for him and had say over what he could and could not do, yet they never abused that authority. Even the simple act of asking for permission to come in to his room meant a lot to Greg.

Meanwhile, in a parking lot not more than three hundred feet away and sitting in a car, a middle aged woman waited for her passengers to arrive. She knew the two of them would arrive soon, punctuality was one trait that Greg and Bob shared. Absent mindedly pushing a few strands of hair behind her ear, the middle aged woman, who had more gray hair than Bob had hair period, again wondered how she had been picked for this. She had never had any children or been a guardian before, and now here she was acting as a guardian for the troubled young man known as Greg. She had been told that one of the reasons she had been picked as a guardian was because her name was Dot. If that was a joke then she didn't get it. However, her musing was cut short by the arrival of Greg and Bob. The two men quickly piled in to the car with out a word as Dot started it up and pulled out of the parking lot. A few minutes later the non-descript grey sedan exited a pair of gates and made its way down the road and towards Middleton high school. After several minutes of driving in silence Dot pushed her glasses up her nose before finally speaking.

"Remember Greg, after school today Dr. Carter wants to talk to you," The woman reminded her young passenger.

The young man in the back simply nodded his head in understanding. Going to see Dr. Carter meant talking, talking about his feelings, his behavior, his mood, his past. Greg found these sessions to be both useless and annoying, but he did it anyways. Bob and Dot were his guardians, they had been appointed to look after him, and Greg would do what he had been trained to do, he did what his superiors told him to do.

As the car merged with traffic, Greg began to wonder about this Middleton high school he was going to. Bob and Dot had told him a little about it, but having been out of high school for several years themselves, they couldn't tell him much. In the back of his mind Greg wondered if the instructors would be like the last ones he had.

II.

"Hey KP, what's up?" Ron Stoppable asked his best friend as he approached her locker at school.

"Hey Ron, not much. I heard that you got a note to report to Mr. Barkin's office after first period." Pausing as she crossed her arms and assumed a disapproving look, Kim asked, "Rrrooonnnn. What did you do this time?"

"Honest Kim, I didn't do anything, or at least I don't think I did. But it's been over a week since I was in trouble last time. I think." Ron protested.

"Uh huh, week," Rufus added.

Kim was about to say something further when she was interrupted by a female voice, a voice she knew all too well. While most people wouldn't consider the sound of the voice to be unpleasant, to Kim it sounded like a cat against a cheese grater.

"Oh Kim, I'm glad I found you, just wanted to remind you to not be late to cheer practice today," Bonnie said as she smiled sweetly.

"Oh don't worry Bonnie, I won't be."

"Well it might be kind of hard if you have detention," Bonnie said slyly as she handed a note to Kim. "I think Mr. Barkin wants to see you in his office after class."

As Kim stared at the note, Bonnie turned and began to walk away before throwing one last taunt over her shoulder, "Oh, but don't worry, I'll be more than happy to pick up your slack and lead the practice in your absence." And with that Bonnie continued down the hallway with what Ron swore was a bit more sway in her hips than usual.

"But, but, I can't be in trouble. I'm a cheerleader, we don't get detention," Kim stammered.

"Hey relax KP, if Barkin wants to see the both of us then it can't mean that we're in trouble. Probably something to do with us going on a mission or something," Ron said as they walked down the hallway.

"Yeah I guess you're right Ron."

As the two approached Principle Barkin's office, Kim and Ron were able to see that he already had another young man sitting there.

"Oh man, Mr. B must be on a roll today," Ron whined, "look at the way that kid is sitting, all straight and stiff, almost like he's standing at attention, but only he's sitting down. He must really be in trouble."

"I don't know Ron, Mr. Barkin seems pretty quite if that were the case."

Kim did have to agree with Ron that whoever was sitting in Principal Barkin's office looked pretty tense.

"Possible, Stoppable, I have a task for you two," Principle Barkin said with his usual lack of preamble as the two teens stepped in to his office. "This is Greg Smith, he's a new transfer student and I want you two to show him around the school."

"Doesn't the glee club usually show the new students around?" Ron asked.

"Usually, yes, but with the glee club getting ready for their field trip to X middle school tomorrow they weren't able to spare any one. That's why I'm telling the two of you. And if you do this I might just overlook that exposé on the cafeteria's mystery meat that you're planning on putting in the school paper," Mr. Barkin said.

"Well when you put it that way, when do I start?" Ron asked sheepishly before offering his hand to Greg. "Nice to meet you."

Greg slowly accepted Ron's offered hand and gave a rather firm handshake, after which he dropped his hand and seemed to ignore Kim's presence.

"I thought as much, Smith has the same schedule as you do Stoppable, so I expect you to get him there in a timely manner. The secretary will give you an excuse slip for your next class. Stoppable, Smith, you're both dismissed. Possible I need to talk to you a moment."

"Sure thing Mr. B." Ron said, glad to be out of Mr. Barkin's office.

After Ron and Greg left, Mr. Barkin turned his attention to a slightly confused Kim.

"Possible, I need your help with something. Consider this like a hit on your website."

"Ahh, sure Mr. Barkin. What do you need?" Kim asked, now even more confused about what Mr. Barkin was doing.

"Normally I don't discuss a student's private life with other students, but in the case of Mr. Smith there are a few things I need to tell you about him." Mr. Barkin paused as he considered just how truthful he could be to Kim about Greg. "Smith has transferred in from an out-of-state military school, he left his old school under less than amicable terms."

Mr. Barkin noted the raised eyebrow on Kim as he continued, "Smith also has a medical condition that also requires that he receive medication everyday around lunch time."

"Mr. Barkin, why are you telling me this?" Kim asked. She usually wasn't one to interrupt an authority figure when they spoke and she didn't like to interrupt Mr. Barkin when he was speaking, but that didn't stop her this time.

"Let me finish, then you'll understand." When Kim nodded her head he continued, "Smith has gotten the short of the stick lately. Between his being forced to change schools, and having to take daily medication, he is currently living with his guardians and not his real family. I would appreciate it if you and Stoppable could befriend him, to help make his transition to Middleton easier. In fact, I received an e-mail from your friend Dr. Director at Global Justice asking that you do that too."

Now Kim was really curious, "Why is Dr. Director so interested in him?"

III.

Meanwhile, as Mr. Barkin talked to Kim, Ron and Greg were making their way towards their history class.

"So tell me about yourself," Ron asked as he led the new student on a quick tour of the school.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, anything, where are you from? What do you like to eat? What are your hobbies?"

"I'm from out of state. I eat what I'm given. I don't have any hobbies." Greg answered.

"That's it? That's all you have to say? Those were the most boring answers I've every heard. You must be related to Agent Du," Ron complained.

"No I am not related to agent Du."

"Well there may be hope for you yet then. But I can't believe that you don't have any hobbies. Surely you must do something for fun. Take me, for example, I love to eat at Bueno Nacho and to play Zombie Mayhem with my buddy Felix."

"I like to be left alone," Greg answered.

"Oookkaay. Not the type of answer I was expecting but it's a start," Ron said as he began to wonder what sort of student Mr. Barkin had just pawned off on to him. "Well, here we are, room 123. Time for a little history," Ron joked, "Get it? Time for history. Man that's funny."

"Yeah funny," Rufus said as he popped his head out of Ron's cargo pocket.

"What in the world is that?" Greg asked in wonder.

"This is Rufus, he's a naked mole rat."

"He looks like the mongoose I skinned and ate in survival training," Greg deadpanned.

"Yikes!" Rufus shouted as he dove for cover in his pocket.

"Dude, that's so not funny. Rufus is sensitive about those kinds of things," Ron protested as they entered the class.

IV.

Later that day, after history class. "And here we have the cafeteria," Ron said with obviously faked enthusiasm. "Some people say you can get good food here. I, for one, won't believe it until they put me in charge again." Ron then pointed across the room towards a table, "See that table over there, third one from the left, that's where Kim and I usually sit along with Monique and Felix."

Greg simply nodded his head and followed Ron towards the lunch line. He had been standing in it, ready to receive his food for only a few moments when became aware of the arrival of one Bonnie Rockwaller as she stood between him and Ron.

"Well it's not surprising that you're associated with the loser Ron Stoppable, I can tell by the way you're dressed," Bonnie said as a way of introducing herself, "you're dragging down the whole school with those lame clothes."

"Come on, Bon Bon, lay off the new guy, it's his first day," Ron said.

"I'm not talking to you, loser," Bonnie said as she held up her hand, palm outward and in Ron's face.

Ron was about retort when Greg spoke up for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Bonnie Rockwaller..." The self anointed queen bee began but was cut off when Greg continued.

"Are you an instructor here?"

"No."

"Are you a commander or team leader?"  
"Umm, no." While this last question left Bonnie confused, she was unprepared for Greg's next statement.

"Then go away, you're not important." And with that Greg simply pushed his way past Bonnie without even a second thought as he continued down the lunch line.

Bonnie could only stand there, her mouth moving like a fish out of water. She could not believe that she had just been spoken to that way. She then turned around and began to yell at Greg's back, "You, you can't talk to me that way you loser."

"Well he just did Bon Bon," Ron said with a grin.

"Who do you think you are loser?" Bonnie continued to rant but got no response as Greg continued to walk away, "You think you can just ignore me like that? You'll pay for this."

With her promise of pay back given, Bonnie turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen anyone make Bonnie that mad that quick," Ron muttered to himself.

After receiving his own food, and Ron did use that term loosely when it came to Middleton's cafeteria food, Ron sat down with Greg to eat.

"I'm impressed Greg, I don't think I've ever seen anyone make Bonnie that steamed before. Well, aside from Kim, but those two always go at it."

Just then Kim arrived with her lunch and joined the two young men at the table.

"Hi Ron. Hey Greg, how's the first day going so far?" Kim asked.

"It's ok," Greg answered.

"Ok? Dude you just set a new school record for seriously tweaking off Bonnie," Ron said excitedly.

"He tweaked off Bonnie? I wish I had seen it," Kim said.

"Oh, it was beautiful Kim. I swear there was steam coming out of Bonnie's ears when she left."

Ron was about to elaborate in more detail when he was interrupted by another girl's voice, "Hey Kim, Ron. How come no body told me that we had a new addition to our table?" Monique asked as she sat down with two lunch trays at the table.

"Monique, this is Greg, he transferred in today," Kim answered.

"Nice to meet you Greg," Monique said as she offered her hand.

Staring at her out stretched hand for a second, Greg seemed a bit reluctant before wordlessly shaking Monique's hand and then returning to eating his lunch.

"Don't tell me he's shy," Monique said as she tried to down play the apparent rebuff.

"Umm, no it's not that. He's from a military school, so he seems a bit uptight," Kim offered.

In an attempt to change the subject to something a little less awkward, Ron decided to tease Monique a little, "So Monique, two fisting it today?" Ron smirked as he indicated to the second tray.

"Ha, ha, very funny, funky monkey boy. This other tray is for Felix."

"Did I just hear an angel mention my name?" Felix said as he rolled up to the table.

"Felix my man, how's it going?" Ron asked as the two high-fived each other, "Greg, this is my friend Felix I was telling you about. Felix, this is Greg, today's his first day."

"How's it going?" Felix asked.

Greg simply looked at Felix for a moment before stating the obvious, "He's crippled."

In the awkward silence that followed a person could have heard crickets chirping.

"I take back what I said about him being shy, and about nice meeting him," Monique said angrily.

"It's ok Monique," Felix said as he attempted to calm down the brewing volcano that was his girlfriend, "it doesn't bother me. Besides he's right, by definition my legs are crippled."

"I still don't like the way he said it," Monique fumed before casting a withering glare in Greg's direction, "so what if he's crippled?"

"It matters because he can't pull his own weight or contribute to the team. He's worthless and a hindrance," Greg answered.

Shocked at what they had just heard, the four friends just sat there, their mouths agape for several minutes before any of them could respond.

"Dude, that's my friend you're talking about there!" Ron yelled.

"How dare you say that about Felix!" Monique exploded, "he's worth more than you'll ever be."

"Greg, I can't believe you said that," Kim said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry you feel that way about me," Felix said.

"You're damn right he should feel sorry," Monique yelled.

"Don't yell at me for telling the truth," Greg growled back.

Kim knew that she had to defuse the situation at the table, and fortunately she had a perfect excuse to do so.

"Greg, Mr. Barkin said that you needed to take some medicine. I'll show you were the nurse's office is." Kim said as she rose and stepped towards Greg. "I don't know what you need it for, but I hope it takes the sour out of your mouth." But Greg sat there for a moment and looked at her like she had something growing out of her forehead.

Crossing her arms, Kim stood there and simply stared down at Greg, "Mr. Barkin made it clear that I was to make sure that you got to the nurse's office on time. So you can either walk there yourself or I can carry you." Kim normally would have attempted to find a more diplomatic way of getting him to come with her with out embarrassing him, but she was still tweaked about his comments about Felix, so she didn't care right now.

"I'd like to see you try," Greg said as he picked up his tray and dumped it in the trash.

"Ron, Mon, Felix. I'll see you guys later," Kim said as she led Greg down the hall way.

"What is that guy's problem?" Monique asked.

"I don't know," Ron answered, "but in less than thirty minutes he managed to royally tweak Kim, you, Felix, myself, and Bonnie."

"Ron, didn't you say this was his first day?" Felix asked.

"Yeah."

"Well at the rate he's going it my also be his last."

"Ahh man, this isn't good," Ron said thinking back to Bonnie's promise to make Greg pay for his insult to her.

"I hope for his sake the medicine makes him more sociable." Monique said bitterly.

"Heck if it works on him then maybe they should give some to Barkin." Ron joked uneasily.

V.

As Kim escorted Greg to the school's nurse's office, she was still fuming about what he had said about Felix. In fact they were more than half way there before Kim had calmed down enough to speak in a civil tone. "Greg, I want you to know that I'm seriously peeved at what you called Felix. But I also want you to tell me the truth, did you really mean what you said about Felix being worthless?" Kim asked.

"Yes," was all Greg said.

Kim began to growl in anger but caught herself before continuing, "I'm guessing that you've never dealt with someone in Felix's condition before."

"No."

Ah ha, that explains a lot, Kim thought to herself. All the drama in the lunch room had been a misunderstanding, no one could be that crass and insensitive.

"Well that's ok, before I meet Felix I hadn't either, and I really did make a fool of myself about it." Kim chuckled slightly at the memory of how awkward she used to act around Felix.

"So, why are you telling me this?" Greg asked.

"I'm telling you this to help you out, as a friend. So far you're doing a ferociously bad job of making any new friends."

"I don't have any friends," Greg responded almost emotionlessly.

"You don't have any friends? But what about at your old school, didn't you have any friends there?"

"No I didn't."

"Well maybe what you need is someone to help you make some friends, and I know just the person to do that. Me," Kim said with a smile.

"But you said that you were angry about me calling Felix a cripple, why would you help me to make friends?"

"I am angry about the way you treated Felix today, but that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to help you."

"So why do you want to help me?" Greg asked as he attempted to wrap his mind around the concept that someone would do something for him for nothing.

"It's what I do. I like helping people," Kim answered in all seriousness.

"You mean like your friends?"

"Not just my friends, but any one who needs help. I've helped people all over the world."

The two arrived at the nurse's office before Greg could ask another question however. As Greg entered the room Kim watched as Nurse Cratchen poured a carefully measured amount of a thick, brownish colored medicine in to a cup. Bringing the cup to his lips, Greg hesitated for a moment, as if he was trying to mentally prepare himself, before he downed the liquid in one gulp. Even though he didn't utter a single word, Kim could tell from the look on Greg's face and the way his body shuddered, that whatever the medicine was it was not pleasant to take. Taking a large drink from the cup of water Nurse Cratchen offered, Greg then wiped his mouth and exited the clinic.

"Wow, that looked like it must have tasted ferociously terrible," Kim said as she caught up to Greg.

"It does," Greg agreed.

"Do you mind if I ask what you're taking?"

"I don't know what it is."

"You're taking medicine and you don't even know what it is?" Kim asked in disbelief.

"All I know is that my guardians made me start taking it a couple of months ago," Greg answered seemingly unconcerned.

"Maybe you should ask them then."

"Why? They are taking care of me. If they think I need to take some medicine then I will."

"I guess you really trust them."

Greg just shrugged, "More so than Todd, and they respect me for who I am."

"Was Todd part of your family?" Kim asked.

"I don't have any family."

"Oh," Kim said quietly.

VI.

At the end of the day, Kim, Ron, Monique, and Felix met at their favorite after-school hangout, Bueno Nacho.

"I still can't believe he said what he did," Monique fumed.

"He who?" Ron asked.

"The FNG."

"FNG? Translation please," Kim asked.

"Fucking New Guy."

"Monique!" Kim was shocked, she had never heard her friend call someone a profane name before.

"Uh huh, FNG!" Rufus reemphasized.

"Babe, just because Greg is a jerk doesn't mean you need to use profanity," Felix said.

"I'm sorry you guys, it just really bothered me that he did that, and after the way he sort of just blew me off when I was introduced to him today," Monique admitted.

"You don't think he's racist do you?" Felix asked.

"At this point I don't know."

"I can't believe someone like that would even be allowed in to our school. Besides, he pretty much treated me that way at first too," Kim said.

"Um. KP, Mon, I don't think Greg likes you because you're girls. He acted that way to every girl today," Ron said.

"Well he's going to learn to start treating girls with a little more respect," Kim said confidently.

"And how are you going to do that GF?" Monique asked.

"Did you know that Greg doesn't have any friends?"

"Can't say that surprises me much."

"Well I think that's part of his problem, he's never had any friends so he doesn't know how to make any."

"Maybe, but just where are you going to find someone to be his friend?" Monique asked.

Kim's smile was met by deafening silence.

"Whoa, bad idea KP," Ron said.

"I'm with Ron on this one, Kim. Haven't you heard the saying about fools rush in where angels fear to tread?" Felix added.

"Ok, I admit that it might not be easy. I mean he does have the social skills of Justine Flanner, and the disposition of Bonnie, but hey, I can do anything," Kim said confidently, "maybe we can all be his friends."

"Sorry Kim but NWJ!" Monique said.

"NWJ?"

"No Way Jose. I am not about to just forgive him and start being his friend. If you want to then fine, go ahead, and hopefully you can bring him around. But as for me, I can't do that, not right now."

VII.

After Greg had been brought home from school he was only able to enjoy only about fifteen minutes of solitude in his room before there came a knocking on his door.

"Greg, Greg are you in there? Don't forget you have an appointment with Dr. Carter today."

"Yes I know." Greg replied irritably. After today the last thing he wanted to do was to talk to Dr. Carter.

"Greg Smith, don't you take that tone with me."

"Yes ma'am." Greg said submissively.

"That's more like it. Now why don't we be on our way." Dot suggested.

Ten minutes later Greg found himself both bored and annoyed as he sat in a chair talking to Dr. Carter like he usually did three times a week. Today Greg was telling the doctor about his day at school, and how he felt about it.

"Now this is just a personal opinion Greg, but it doesn't sound like you had much luck making any friends today." The well tanned doctor said.

"I didn't know I was supposed to make friends today."

"Well not necessarily today, but I would hope that you do in the future. They do help to make the school day go by faster."

As Greg thought about this he realized that he now faced a dilemma. The red headed girl, Kim, had said that she was willing to be his friend, even after he had insulted her other friend Felix. Did this mean that she was willing to stop being friends with Felix to be friends with him? Greg didn't know, but was curious. But there was the other problem that he couldn't get around, Kim was a girl.

"What about that girl that you were telling me about, oh what was her name? Kim I think you said," the doctor asked as he interrupted Greg's thoughts. "It sounds to me like she is more than willing to be your friend."

"Yes she is," Greg conceded. "But I've never had a girl friend before." Not comprehending what he had just said.

"Oh I see." Dr. Carter said as he began to quickly write down some notes. "I didn't know things had gone that well."

IX.

Jack Hench was sitting in his office when the e-mail arrived. Opening the document, the CEO of the world's largest henchmen business quickly read the message:

JH,

I demand an update on the status of project Spartan.

G.

Jack sighed as he sat back in his chair, he was beginning to regret his partner ship. G had proven to be demanding partner and customer, he was always pressing to accelerate the development timeline. At first things had gone well, up till the second field test. It was three months ago, a simple break in at a secure facility. During the test something went wrong and they had lost one of their prototypes. After that the whole project had to be revamped, which had cost both time and money. Time wasn't such a big expense, but the money he had to pour in to try to get things back on schedule had been costly. Hench Co had already invested nearly a billion dollars in to this project and the lack of any short term return meant that some of his investors were starting to ask questions. He wasn't worried about the small time investors such as Duff Killigon or Monty Fiske, no it was the large investors such as Senor Senor Senior that worried him. Curse that old man, he seemed to have nothing better to do than sit around and go through quarterly statements with more of a fine tooth comb than the Securities and Exchange Commission did.

Although Senor Senor Senior did not hold a majority stake in his beloved company, Jack knew that the very rich Spaniard held enough shares that were he to dump them then Hench Co would lose hundreds of millions in valuation overnight. He needed a way to distract the old man, to give him something else to occupy his mind. And then suddenly a smile appeared on his face as an idea formed in his mind. He would simply use one problem to provide the solution to another. Typing away on his keyboard, Jack quickly outlined his proposal to G. In it he included a short list of names of people that should be used, and at the top of that list was a young man named Todd.


	3. Chapter 3 Band of Brothers

**KIM POSSIBLE: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM**

**CHAPTER THREE: BAND OF BROTHERS**

I.

"Morning Kim," Ron said with his usual goofy yet friendly smile as the two meet up to walk to school.

"Hi Ron, ready for school?"

"Oh yeah, nothing like a fun filled day of taking tests, being yelled at by Mr. Barkin, and dealing with a socially maladjusted oddball."

"And you should know because you're an expert on being a social oddball." Kim teased before turning serious "And by maladjusted I assume your mean Greg."

"You know me, "never be normal," Ron said while puffing his chest out in pride, "But yes, I was talking about Greg. Kim, did you mean what you said last night, about being his friend."

"Well why shouldn't I?"

"Newsflash Kim, you said it your self, the guy is like a cross between Justine and Bonnie in the personality department. I mean come on Mr. Barkin smiles more than that guy did yesterday."

"Well Bonnie hardly ever smiles either, or at least when she isn't tormenting someone," Kim sighed, "I know Ron, but just because he's socially inept doesn't mean he shouldn't have any friends."

"Okay let's review, the guy doesn't smile, he pretty much ignores every girl he meets, he called Felix a cripple, and he even insulted Rufus." Rufus popped his head out of his pocket nodded his head vigorously in agreement. "Uh huh, insult."

"Other than his ability to tweak off Bonnie in record time and that he swears that he's not related to Will Du, Greg doesn't have any redeeming qualities. Kim that guy is five hundred miles of bad road."

"Ron, I know you don't exactly like the guy after what he said to Felix yesterday, and trust me I'm still upset about it too. But does that mean that we should treat him like a leper?"

Ron looked at Kim for a moment as he considered her request. Seeing that he was still sitting on the fence, Kim pushed ahead with her argument. "Besides Ron, there's something unusual about Greg."

"You don't say." Ron said sarcastically.

"That's not being fair Ron," Kim said, "Yesterday after you and Greg left Principal Barkin's office, he asked me to make an effort to be Greg's friend. He said he would consider it a favor if I did that for him."

"Maybe Mr. B just wanted to make sure that Greg stayed out of his office."

Kim shook her head no. "I don't think so. He also told me that Dr. Director had called him and requested that you and I be the one's assigned to show him around."

"Okay I admit, that is weird," Ron conceded as he scratched his head. "Why would Dr. Director care about a new student at Middleton?"

"I don't know Ron, but I intend to find out. That's why I could really use your help."

"I don't know Kim." Ron hesitated.

"Please." Kim said in a syrupy sugary sweet sing song way as she gave Ron the puppy dog pout.

"Arggh, not the PDP. You know I can't resist that Kim," Ron whined as he attempted to hide behind his arms as though they gave some sort of protection. "Okay, okay, I'll help you out Kim, just put that thing away."

"Thanks Ron, you rock." Kim said as she gave him a quick hug.

II.

The first half of Greg's second day at Middleton High proved to be only a slight improvement over the previous day. Greg still did not smile during the day and continued to act as though girls were beneath his notice, all of the girls that is except for Kim, he at least acknowledged her existence, but only when she directly asked him a question. Despite this Kim fully intended to keep true to her promise of helping Greg to make friends. Through out the day both Kim and Ron spent time with him and tried to improve the seemingly anti-social young man's social skills with bits of small talk about typical teenager things such as sports, video games, favorite foods or bands. Unfortunately these attempts were all meet with only limited success. However, despite it all Greg did seem willing to accept Ron's offer of friendship, the one thing that did catch everyone at the lunch table by surprise was Greg's acceptance, or really more like tolerance, towards Kim's attempts at friendship. As for Greg's relationship with Monique and Felix; after the previous day's flap the one term that could best describe the icy silence that passed between them was détente. Although Kim was glad to see that Greg and Monique were not fighting she still wished that they would become friends. If only she could find a way to get him to respect women.

III.

Due to Middleton High's scheduling system most of its classes were not held every day but rather every other day. Thus After lunch Greg, who was happy to be away from eating lunch and dealing with one Felix "Cripple" Renton, was scheduled to attend his first day of gym class. Little did Greg know that his treatment of Felix would come back to haunt him, and force him to question his beliefs and assumptions.

As the last of the students gaggled in to the gymnasium the imposing figure of Coach Franklin made an announcement to the motley assembly of students, "All right listen up everybody, we have a new student in the class, Greg Smith. That means we now have an even number of students, so there will be no more groups of three. Greg, your gym partner will be Felix Renton."

"But he's crippled he shouldn't even be here! He'll just hold us back!" Greg complained out loud as some of the students were taken by surprise at how blunt and rather rude the new guy had just been.

The head coach of Middleton High and former Army senior Non Commissioned Officer had already been warned about Greg's attitude from Principal Barkin so not only was he ready for the teen's outburst but he also knew exactly how to deal with it. Coach Franklin and Principal Barkin had a couple of things in common, one was their military background before becoming a teacher, the other was their agreement on things like maintaining good order and discipline among the students.

"Just for that comment I want to see you drop and give me twenty," The retired NCO and head coach said without missing a beat. As Greg began to perform his push ups, Coach Franklin stood in front of the teen and casually unzipped the lower half of the right side of his warm up suit. "When you're done with your push ups I want you to stay in the front leaning rest while I show you something."

With that Coach Franklin removed the pale and yellowish colored prosthetic limb, which not only clashed with his dark black skin but served as his lower leg, and held it in front of Greg's face. "See this? I got this from a land mine. That means I don't have both legs. Now does that make me a cripple? Some one who you wouldn't listen to? I want you to think about that the next time you use the word cripple young man." After reattaching his leg, which he took his time about doing as Greg continued to wait in the up position of a push up, Coach Franklin continued, "Now then Mr. Smith, Felix will be your full time gym partner, and failure is not an option. If he fails, you fail. If he gets hurt, you fail. Now, I would think it would behoove you to do all you can to work with him."

Dejectedly Greg could do little more than accept the fact that in addition to having to deal with a cripple during lunch, he was not responsible for looking after that same crippled person during one of his classes.

Despite the glare that Greg was casting at everyone, including Felix, being the nice guy that he is Felix decided to do the diplomatic thing and offer Greg the choice of what they should do for gym class,. Greg considered what Coach Franklin had said, _if he fails then you fail, if he gets hurt then you fail,_ as the list of activities; play basketball, play dodge ball, or to use the free weights; ran though his head. Deciding that there was no way that Felix could compete against the other able bodied students; the free weights seemed like the best option.

Not long after the pair had started their weight lifting session it became obvious that Felix to Greg that Felix was no slouch when it came to working out. Although the wheel chair bound boy wasn't as strong as Greg, Felix did his best to keep up with his work out partner, not just on the bench press but in every upper body exercise they did. Felix's dedication to taking his work out seriously did impress Greg, although he would never admit this out loud as he still thought of the wheelchair bound boy as a cripple and a probable hindrance. The trouble was that Greg had always been taught that while the best attribute in a person is someone who gives it their all when completing a task and that was a person to be associated with, he had also been taught that a crippled person was worthless and someone to be avoided. After Felix had completed his first set of reps, he and Greg switched places and Felix began to encourage Greg during his work out. This simple act of offering encouragement further confused Greg. He wasn't the weaker of the two, and Felix's grade in the class wasn't depended on how well Greg performed. Yet Flex was still encouraging, helping Greg out. The only reason that Greg could think of that Felix would do that was that he honestly wanted his team mate to do well. That simple act, along with one yet to occur later in the day would give Greg a lot to think about and caused him to continue to question his beliefs.

At the end of the class as the mass of students made their way toward the locker room, most of the guys made a beeline towards the showers, and Greg was no exception. As he strode through the locker room and toward the shower, seemingly unconcerned about his nakedness, Greg was unaware of some of the stares he was getting. And it wasn't because they were admiring his body. Rather most of the stares were directed at Greg's backside, and the numerous scares that were carried on it.

_Wow_, Felix thought, _That explains a few things_.

IV.

A short time later, less than thirty minutes but more than fifteen, Kim; her best friend Ron; and their new hard luck case of a friend in training Greg, could be heard talking as they made their way through the halls of Middleton High towards their English class. Having failed at every other attempt at making worth while small talk Kim decided to give it one more try for the day.

"Greg, are you signed up for any kind of after-school activities?" Kim asked.

"No, what are those?"

"Extra-curricular stuff. You know so you can pad the ole transcripts for college." Ron said only half jokingly.

"I didn't realize that I needed to do that."

"Oh yeah. Extra curricular activities are a lot of fun, and it might help you to meet some new friends." Kim added excitedly, happy that she seemed to have finally found something that would draw Greg in conversation. "Now the only question is what sort of activity might be good for you?"

"Well we could try cooking classes, I mean he isn't too picky of an eater, and he can't be any worse than you Kim." Ron teased.

"No I don't think that would work for him," Kim replied, "and you're _so_ going to pay for that remark Ron."

"How about sports, what kind of sports do you like to play?" Ron asked Greg.

"I don't know. I've never played any sports."

"Well that could be a problem then."

"I know," Kim interrupted excitedly, "Ron we have cheer practice today, why doesn't Greg come and watch us. At least he will get to see what one activity is like."

"You practice cheering?" Greg asked confused.

"Dude, don't tell me you've never seen cheerleaders." Ron asked in disbelief.

"No I haven't."

"Then that settles it. Today after school the Rondo will show you the joys of watching cheerleaders." Ron explained while Kim rolled her eyes at Ron's comment.

"Why don't you two meet up after school, that way you can show him your mascot costume." Kim suggested.

"Good idea Kim. Meet me at the gym locker room after last bell Greg."

Greg nodded his head in agreement. Even though he knew that he was supposed to meet Bob after school, Greg decided that since Dot had told him he needed to try and make some friends; that watching Ron and Kim practice cheering was more important than being picked up on time.

V.

After the last bell of the school day had rung and the majority of students had made their escape for the day, Ron and Greg could be found making their way towards the school's gym locker room.

"Trust me man you are going to love watching all these hot ladies dance around in their, well cheerleader outfits." Ron said with gusto.

"And why do they do this?" Greg asked.

"Duh, to lead cheers. That's what they do to help excite the crowds during a game."

For now Greg simply took Ron's answer at face value. This whole concept of cheer leading really didn't make much sense to him, but then again he had been learning about a lot of things that didn't make sense to him lately. As Ron continued to explain the virtues of the not always so virtuous cheerleaders, they were soon confronted by a rather large and non to happy football player by the name of Brick Flagg.

"All right new kid, no body disrespects Bonnie the way you did yesterday. Time to learn some manners." Brick Flagg growled threateningly as he cracked his knuckles.

Brick, looking all of his six foot two plus frame, brought his arm back and swung towards Greg. What happened next was hard for Ron to believe if he had not seen it with his own eyes. Greg deftly dodged Brick's attack, then grabbed the outstretched arm and twisted it upwards before landing a sharp blow to Brick's stomach with his elbow. Momentarily stunned by having the air knocked out of him, Brick could offer little in the way of resistance as Greg then propelled the football player in to the nearby wall. Even as Brick began to slowly slide down the wall Greg knew that he had finish off his opponent as he had been trained to do. Stepping towards the slightly stunned bully Greg began to once again pummel his opponent as a memory appeared in to his mind.

In his mind's eye, Greg could see himself, a younger version of himself. He was in some sort of large room which held absolutely no amenities. In fact the only things that occupied the room were a simple rubber mat which measured about ten feet by ten feet, and two rows of kids about the same age as Greg. The lighting in the room was poor, with only one light shinning directly down upon the mat, thus the two rows of kids were unable to see one another. However, that really didn't matter much. Having lived, and trained together for so long, every kid there personally knew everyone else. Upon hearing his name called, Greg stepped in to the center of the mat and awaited further instructions. His wait was not long though, soon another name, Dan, was called and the owner like wise stepped in to the center of the mat.

"Hand to hand combat, begin, now!" The same voice instructed from just beyond the shadows. Wasting no time in following his instructions, Dan charged towards Greg and tackled him. There was very little style or finesse to Greg's defense as he attempted to get the larger and stronger Dan off of him while avoiding his blows. Finally Greg was able to maneuver his leg enough to be able to kick Dan in the groin. With this momentary distraction Greg began to repeatedly punch his opponent in the face until Dan finally collapsed to his knees and offered no further resistance. Seeing this Greg stopped punching his fellow teammate.

"Why have you stopped?" The voice asked.

"He's beat." Greg answered before being rapped by a baton across the head.

"I expect you to carry out your orders, finish him."

Greg hesitated for a few seconds before acting, but it was long enough to earn him another blow from the baton across his arm this time. Bringing his hand up to where he had just been hit, Greg soon had his knuckles rapped too.

"You have two seconds to finish off your opponent.

With this memory in his mind, Greg recalled the lessons he had learned that day.

_Always finish a fight._ He punched Brick in the face. **Punch**

_Don't show weakness._ He then landed another punch to the face. **Punch**

_Never let your opponent get up._ He landed yet another punch to the face. **Punch**

Greg stopped for just half a second to assess the situation. Brick was on the floor and against the wall, his face was bloody and he was only feeble able to defend himself. His opponent was down but he could still get back up, so he was not yet defeated. Doing what he thought was the only natural thing to do Greg proceeded to continue to punch Brick in the face. Greg brought his arm back in order to deliver a more powerful blow when he was interrupted.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Greg, amp down!" Ron hollered as he attempted to intercede between the two fighters by grabbing Greg's arm. Finally forcing Greg off of Brick, Ron turned to face Greg, who looked ready to attack again and held him back at arm's length. That's when a curious thing happened. As Greg took a step towards Brick, he suddenly found himself staring face to face with Ron. Only this Ron wasn't the easy going goofy looking one that Greg was used to seeing. Instead Ron was focused, determined, serious, and maybe even just a little angry looking, and strangely enough there seemed to be just the hint of a faint blue glow around Ron. Despite his efforts to break free Ron's grip on Greg was simply to strong. Greg had no idea that Ron was nearly that strong and began to wonder if Ron was to dangerous to attempt befriending.

"Greg he's beat, leave him alone." Ron ordered.

"Why?" Greg asked in all sincerity as he again attempted to move forward, almost daring Ron to try to stop him. "He can still get up, I have to finish."

"What do you mean you have to finish? Look at him, he's beat. Besides its wrong to keep hurting someone after you defeat them."

Ron stood his ground during this exchange and never took his eyes off of Greg until he was sure the young man wasn't going to do any further harm to Brick. Releasing the young man Ron, now looking more like his usually carefree self, knelt down next to Brick in order to examine his injuries, and that's when they heard the one thing that Ron had been hoping to avoid.

"Stoppable, Flagg, Smith. What's going on here?" Boomed the voice of one Principal Barkin. "Mr. Flagg why do you look like you've been used as a tackling dummy?"

"Because he and I were in a fight." Ron answered suddenly

"No, it wasn't that loser Ron, it was the new kid, he attacked me." Brick countered.

"Enough!" Shouted Barkin. "Mr. Flag, report to the nurses office to get cleaned up, then I want to see you in my office."

As Brick beat a hasty retreat down the hallway towards the nurse's office, Mr. Brakin then turned his attention towards Ron and Greg. "Is what Mr. Flagg just said true?"

"No." Ron answered while Greg simultaneously answered "Yes".

Rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration, Barkin took a deep breath before speaking.

"Mr. Smith, I don't know why you're still here after school, but your guardians are waiting for you outside. Now move out. As for you Mr. Stoppable, report to my office. I'll sort this out with you and Mr. Flagg there."

"Ok Mr. B." Ron said before giving a wave to Greg. "See you tomorrow Greg."

"But Principal Barkin; Ron didn't fight…"

"Mr. Smith", Barkin said in a steady but low tone that broached no argument, "I recommend that you move out smartly before I decide give you detention for loiter around after school and disobeying my orders. Got it?"

Ron wasn't sure what Greg had done to set off Mr. Barkin, but the tone of voice the principle used certainly conveyed that the principal was no mood for any argument, and had got the young man moving. Ronald figured that he would have time to figure that out while he sat in Mr. Barkin's office.

VI.

Early the next morning in Middleton, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the air was beginning to warm up nicely as spring advanced. It provided the perfect weather for people to walk to school, especially if they were a couple looking to spend a little time together, as was the case with Felix and Monique.

"I can't believe he called you a cripple again, and in front of everyone like that." Monique said exasperated. She and Felix had been walking to school together, as they enjoyed doing, when he had told her about his encounter with Greg during gym class the previous day.

"I know, at first I was kind of upset about it, but then Coach Franklin made him my partner."

"Oh I bet Greg was just thrilled about that." Monique giggled.

"At first he wasn't, that's for sure. And to be honest neither was I," Felix admitted. "But it was kind of strange, he really did take his job of being my partner seriously, and by the end of the class it seemed like he sort of accepted me more when he saw how seriously I took my work out."

"I'm glad you take your workouts seriously too," Monique leered playfully, "Still that boy needs to be flogged for his tude."

"Maybe he was." Felix said softly.

"What do you mean?" Monique asked as she noted the change in his tone of voice.

Felix then began to explain to her about what he and most of the guys in the locker room that day had seen on Greg's body.

As the two teens were walking, talking, and generally enjoying each others company, they failed to notice a nondescript gray sedan pass by them heading towards Middleton High School. Inside the car sat two adults and one teenager.

"Remember Greg, you are to head straight to the car after classes today. No side trips like yesterday." Dot instructed in a stern voice. "If you're not here exactly one minute after the last bell rings then Bob will go fetch you and carry you out." The look of disinterest on the teen's face did not go unnoticed.

"Greg," Bob began quite sternly also, "Don't think that Dot's joking about that, I will carry you over my shoulder if I have to."

"Greg, it's not just us two who are worried about you and disappointed by what you did yesterday." Dot added in a softer tone of voice, "So is your Aunt Betty."

"That's right, Aunt Betty was less than happy about how things turned out yesterday. In fact she wants to have a chat with you about that this weekend Greg."

"Why should I? Is she important?" Greg asked.

"You could say that, she's our boss, and the one who is letting you stay in your own room." Bob corrected the young man.

After dropping off their charge at the front of the high school Dot let out a weary sigh. "I don't know about you, but I'm really glad we only have Greg to deal with. I don't think Global Justice could pay me enough if we had to take care of more than one kid like Greg."

Bob could only nod his head in agreement. But if half of the report he had read about Greg was true then Bob knew that Dot would change her mind in a second.

VII.

Despite the nice weather outside, Kim was feeling slightly depressed as she gathered some books out of her school wall locker. She hadn't been able to walk to school with Ron today, she wasn't going to get to spend time with him on her Ron night, and if his parents had their way she wouldn't even be able talk to him on the phone for the whole weekend.

"Hey girlfriend, have you heard the latest?" Monique asked as she suddenly appeared in front of Kim as the red head closed her locker door.

"Um no." Kim answered as she tried to figure out what Monique could be talking about.

"Both Ron and Brick were suspended yesterday for fighting in school." Even though Monique was a little saddened that Ron had gotten in trouble, her voice still held a note of excitement in it for getting to inform Kim of some new juicy gossip.

"Yeah I know," Kim said sadly.

"How did you know already? I only heard about it this morning, and the rumor going around school is that Brick swears up and down that it wasn't Ron who beat him up but that it was Greg who did it. So maybe we should put some thumb screws to the guy to find out if it's true." Monique said with a slightly sinister smile. The thing that trouble Kim was that she wasn't entirely sure whether or not Monique was being serious about using the thumb screws.

"Speaking of which, here he comes." Felix announced.

As Greg walked up to the trio he unexpectedly nodded his head in acknowledgment of Felix's presence. Given his behavior towards the wheel chair bound teen the past couple of days, this was a pretty big shift in his behavior. However, the way Greg completely ignored Monique dashed any hopes for any further civility from the new guy.

"Umm, can I help you Greg?" Kim asked slightly annoyed as the young anti-social man stood blocking her path.

"I have a question about Ron, he did something that confuses me. Does he like to help people too?" Greg asked.

"Ahh, yeah. That's why he goes with me on missions." Kim answered.

"Missions?" Greg asked.

"Whoa, time out. Before you two get any further I have a question I want to ask." Monique demanded. "Greg, were you with Ron yesterday after school?"

At first Greg ignored the question, but after Kim began to glare at him an answer was forth coming.

"Yes, and that is why I want to know why did Ron do what he did yesterday? Why did he stop me from finishing my fight, and then why did he take the punishment for me? Is that how he helps people?" Greg asked.

"Yes, Ron does like to help people."

"Then he's a fool if that's the way he does it."

"Greg!" Kim warned harshly. "Ron helped you. You may not agree with how he did it, but you should appreciate it. I don't know why he did it either, but Ron's like that."

"I hate to agree with Mr. Personality here, but he's right. That was a pretty foolish thing for Ron to do." Monique opined, "Especially to help him out." She added while tossing her thumb in Greg's direction.

"I'm afraid that I'm starting to agree with Mon." Felix added.

"There isn't much we can do about it what Ron did or why, but I do know this much, coming from someone who is trying to be a friend to someone who needs all the friends he can get." Kim said as she continued to glare at Greg. "If I were you I would be sure to thank Ron the next time you see him."

"Thank him for what?" Greg asked.

"My point exactly." Monique added.

Kim stood there and stared at Greg in bewilderment for a moment before answering. "You should thank him for taking the fall for you and keeping you out of trouble. After all that's what friends do." With that Kim shouldered her way past Greg and left for her first class of the day.

As Greg watched the retreating Kim he began to ponder what she had said. _Is that what friends do? Do the keep each other out of trouble? If that was the case then being a friend was going to be harder than he thought._

As Kim walked away from Greg and down one of the schools hallways people gave her a wide berth when they saw how angry she was by how much her eye was twitching. She was the girl who could do anything, even help socially inept people to make friends, but at the moment all she could do was to be fed up with Greg. After a few minutes Kim had calmed down enough that she finally noticed that Monique and Felix had been following her and were whispering behind her.

"Tell her Mon." Felix said as he gently nudged his girlfriend.

"Why should I tell her? You're the one that saw it."

"Yeah, but your her best friend."

"Okay you two, what are you arguing about and what do you want to tell me?" Kim asked annoyed.

"Well it's about Greg." Monique began hesitatingly.

"What about Greg? I know you don't like him." Kim was already annoyed with Greg and really didn't feel like talking about him any more this morning.

"It's not about Monique not liking him." Felix interjected. "It's about Greg him self."

Kim sighed in annoyance at how her friends where betting around the bush about things. "Look just spit it out, what about Greg?"

"Well girlfriend, we think that maybe Greg has been abused in the past." Monique said bluntly.

"Abused? What do you mean?"

"Ask Felix, he saw it."

Seeing Kim turn her stare towards him, Felix began to recount his experience with Greg in gym class from the previous day. At the end of his story Kim just stood there looking at him in disbelief. Yes Kim new about child abuse, she had seen it in the news and read about it in the paper. However, despite Kim's globe trotting routine around the world on her numerous missions and stopping all sorts of evil plots by evil men with evil schemes, the fact of the matter was that she still lead a fairly sheltered life and had never meet anyone whom had been a victim of physical abuse. Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, Kim quickly decided that she was going to have to dig a bit deeper in order to find out more about this new student Greg. Even if that meant doing something that straight and narrow Kim Possible knew was wrong.

TBC


End file.
